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Abstract

Impulse response functions for an incremental luminous pulse (ON flash) or a decremental luminous pulse (OFF flash) were derived for twelve young (19–24 years old) and ten old (65–84 years old) observers. Thresholds were measured for two pulses separated by stimulus-onset-asynchronies from 13.3 to 186.7 ms. The pulses had a spatial Gaussian shape and were presented as increments or decrements on a 15cd/m2 equal-energy white background, having the same chromaticity as the pulse. A spatial four-alternative forced-choice method was combined with a staircase procedure. Retinal illuminance was equated individually by heterochromatic flicker photometry and using a 2.3-mm exit pupil in a Maxwellian-view optical system to reduce the effects of age-related changes and individual variations in lens density and pupil size. Luminance ON- and OFF-impulse response functions calculated from the threshold data revealed significant age-related changes in the response amplitude of both first excitatory and first inhibitory phases. However, there were no significant changes in the time to the first peak or the second peak. These age-related changes in luminance varying ON- and OFF-impulse response functions (IRFs), reflecting putative properties of the magnocellular pathway, are discussed in relation to motion detection and the balance of ON and OFF pathways across the life span.

J. Krüger and B. Fischer, “Symmetry between the visual B- and D-systems and equivalence of center and surround: studies of light increment and decrement in retinal and geniculate neurons of the cat,” Biol. Cybernet. 20, 223–236 (1975).
[Crossref]

1977 (1)

1975 (1)

J. Krüger and B. Fischer, “Symmetry between the visual B- and D-systems and equivalence of center and surround: studies of light increment and decrement in retinal and geniculate neurons of the cat,” Biol. Cybernet. 20, 223–236 (1975).
[Crossref]

Fischer, B.

J. Krüger and B. Fischer, “Symmetry between the visual B- and D-systems and equivalence of center and surround: studies of light increment and decrement in retinal and geniculate neurons of the cat,” Biol. Cybernet. 20, 223–236 (1975).
[Crossref]

Krüger, J.

J. Krüger and B. Fischer, “Symmetry between the visual B- and D-systems and equivalence of center and surround: studies of light increment and decrement in retinal and geniculate neurons of the cat,” Biol. Cybernet. 20, 223–236 (1975).
[Crossref]

Bericht d. Ophthalm. Ges. (1)

Biol. Cybernet. (1)

J. Krüger and B. Fischer, “Symmetry between the visual B- and D-systems and equivalence of center and surround: studies of light increment and decrement in retinal and geniculate neurons of the cat,” Biol. Cybernet. 20, 223–236 (1975).
[Crossref]

Fig. 3. Mean peak time (left panel) and mean peak amplitude (right panel) for luminance ON- and OFF-IRFs for younger and older observers. Error bars are ±1 SEM. For each condition, the left bar denotes the peak of the positive phase, and the right bar denotes the peak of the negative phase. Asterisks denote statistically significant differences; the peak amplitude of the first positive phase is reduced significantly with age for both the ON- (p<0.01) and OFF-IRFs (p<0.001).

Fig. 4. Comparison of the first (positive) and second (negative) peak time between luminance (L+M) ON- and OFF-IRFs for all observers. Open triangles and gray circles denote younger and older observers’ data points, respectively.

Fig. 5. Comparison of the first positive peak amplitude (top panel) and the second negative peak amplitude (bottom panel) between luminance (L+M) ON- and OFF-IRFs. Open triangles and gray circles denote younger and older observers, respectively. Solid lines are the regression lines for all data points.

Fig. 6. Comparison between negative contrast thresholds for decremental flashes and positive contrast thresholds for incremental flashes for each SOA for twelve younger observers (top panel) and ten older observers (bottom panel). Crosses denote the six and four data sets of the younger and older groups, respectively, that showed no significant difference between positive and negative contrast thresholds (see text for explanation). Open and filled symbols show individual observers’ data sets for which positive contrast thresholds are significantly larger or smaller than negative contrast thresholds, respectively.

Fig. 7. Top panel: average luminance ON- and OFF-IRFs for younger and older observers, as calculated from the mean of the first and second peaks. Open squares and filled triangles denote mean peak points of ON- and OFF-IRFs, respectively. Error bars indicate ±1 SEM. Horizontal error bars are not visible as they were small. Bottom panel: temporal contrast sensitivity function (tCSF) calculated from the IRFs. Solid and dotted curves denote IRFs and tCSFs of ON- and OFF-IRFs, and black and gray curves show the functions of younger and older observers, respectively. The tCSFs were normalized to the peak sensitivity of the OFF-IRF of the younger observers.